Challenges of the Native American Essay Example for Free

Challenges of the Native American Essay Native American culture is in its downfall, due to the discrimination and dehumanization that Native Americans have faced. Native American culture revolves around a circle. They believe the most important aspects of life such as nature is based on circles. The repetition of life and death, their own families, and even the food chain are all examples of circles. These circles have been shattered by the discrepancies from white men in particular. Being kicked off their land and forced into reservations, Carlisle Schools, and substance abuse have broken the Native American circle. Authors like Sherman Alexie have displayed examples of these broken circles. His work has made our society aware of the discrimination the Native American culture has endured. Settlers viewed themselves as above the Native Americans resulting in conflicts between the two. These conflicts escalated, and the white settlers viewed Native Americans as a threat to the country. The U. S. government forced Native Americans onto land that was viewed unimportant, or of no value at all. This has broken their circle by forcing them away from their homeland and they had to restart their lives in a new land. This was the beginning of the downfall for the Native American culture and its circle. Schools were specifically designed to tear apart the Native American circle. The Carlisle School was founded by Richard Pratt in 1892 (Pavelic, Perelshstein 1). The school†s main goal was to convert young Native Americans to American lifestyle and culture. The school stripped Native American childrens culture away from them by converting them to Christianity, and forcing them to never use their native language (Pavelic, Perelshstein 1). By tearing the Native American culture out of the children, the culture is unable to pass on through them hence destroying the circle by not allowing their culture to be taught to future generations. After the discrimination and dehumanization from being kicked off their land and being forced into American culture, many Native Americans also began self-destructing due to substance abuse. Native Americans have the highest rate of substance abuse above any other race in the U. S. (Meir 1). These substances include alcohol, and harsher drugs such as methamphetamine. Substance abuse breaks the family circle because it leads to physical abuse, or abandoning of families displayed in the movie Smoke Signals. Many Native Americans use alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with all the pain they have to face. The abuse of alcohol shows the lack of hope, and shows them surrendering to the discrimination thus surrendering their dreams. By giving up on what they have wanted they fracture the circle of hope and happiness. Hope and happiness are two very important circles because they give people fuel to do great things. When one person is happy and has hope it will be contagious giving people joy. Without this circle the world would be a very tedious and weary place. Authors have made attempts to restore Native American culture and the broken circles. The book Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is novel about hope. Arnold Spirit who lives on a impoverished Native American reservation is the main character in the novel. He is bullied and physically beaten on a day to day basis and almost every adult on the reservation is an alcoholic including his parents. Arnold does not give up, he sees an opportunity to be uplifted from all of the hardships and he takes it. Sherman Alexie shows that hope, and willpower is what is needed in order to restore the circle. Sherman Alexie also wrote the screenplay to the movie called, Smoke Signals. This movie revolves around the fight of normal Native Americans to rise above stereotypes. Thomas-Builds-the-Fire and Victor Joseph are the main characters who set off to obtain Victors Dads ashes who abandoned Victor when he was young. Their problem is that it is hard to discover who they really are because of all the stereotypes that tear them apart. Victor asks Thomas how many times he had seen Dances with Wolves. A hundred, two hundred times? Oh, jeez, you have seen it that many times, havent you? Man, do you think that shit is real? God. Dont you even know how to be a real Indian? Thomas responded saying, I guess not. Victor then went on to tell Thomas to look more stoic and not to smile like an idiot. This scene is an example of how Victor rejects stereotypes, yet embraces them. He does not know who he is, if he is like a stoic Native American, or if he is just like everyone else in the world. In the end, Thomas and Victor manage to discover themselves and to surpass their confusion regarding their identity induced by the stereotypical image others have of them. Thomas helps Victor by showing him not all people are bad and untrustworthy. Thomas teaches Victor to forgive and forget which helps Victor forgive his father. Thomas would tell Victor good stories about how great his dad was which leads to Victor cutting off his hair because he is ashamed of how he felt towards his father. Cutting off ones hair was a Native American ceremony used to show regret. Sherman Alexie has impacted the Native American culture with his award winning book Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and his screenplay for the movie Smoke Signals. He has impacted their culture by showing the world examples of broken circles and has given hope to the Native Americans. The Native Americans circle has been broken by stereotypes, dehumanization, and discrimination of the past and the present. Each has torn apart the Native American culture leaving a permanent mark. Most Native Americans have no hope regarding any change to their broken culture. The high rate of substance abuse among Native Americans shows the lack of hope, and the acceptance of such a broken culture. Those who seek hope such as Sherman Alexie, have been successful. He displays his hope in the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and in the movie, Smoke Signals. Ultimately, hope is the key that unlocks the broken circles that Native Americans have been overtaken by.